Thursday, March 4, 2010

It's "Israeli Apartheid Week". It's time to unite against the continued crimes of Israel and the U.S.

US has vetoed dozens of UN Security Council resolutions to shield Israel from criticism

In addition to a long list of UN General Assembly resolutions that Israel has not complied with, there is also a long list of Security Council resolutions that the United States has vetoed to shield Israel from criticism by the Security Council over the Zionist state’s barbaric actions against the Palestinian people and the Arab states. Here is a partial list of US vetoes, in chronological order.

On September 10, 1972, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s unprovoked attacks against Southern Lebanon and Syria. Thirteen Council members (including four of the five permanent members with veto powers and nine of the ten non-permanent members who are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms starting on January 1 with five replaced each year) voted for the resolution. One non-permanent member abstained from voting. The United States was the only Council member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On July 26, 1973, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution affirming the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, statehood and equal protections under international law. Thirteen Council members (including three permanent members, with China absent, and all ten elected members) voted for the resolution. The United States was the only member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On December 8, 1975, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s air strikes and attacks in Southern Lebanon and its murder of innocent civilians. Thirteen Council members (including four permanent members and nine elected members) voted for the resolution. One elected member abstained from voting. The United States was the only member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it. By vetoing the resolution, the US was, in effect, condoning Israel’s murder of innocent civilians in Southern Lebanon.

On January 26, 1976, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for the self-determination of the Palestinian people. Nine Council members (including four permanent members and five elected members) voted for the resolution. Three elected members abstained from voting. Two elected members were absent. The United States was the only member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On March 25, 1976, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution deploring Israel’s altering of the status of Jerusalem (occupied al-Quds), which is recognised as an international city by most world nations and the United Nations. The United States was the only Council member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On June 29, 1976, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution affirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Ten Council members (permanent and elected) voted for the resolution, with four abstentions. The United States was the only member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On April 30, 1980, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution endorsing self-determination for the Palestinian people. Ten Council members (permanent and elected) voted for the resolution, with four abstentions. The United States was the only member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On January 20,1982, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution demanding Israel’s withdrawal from Syria’s Golan Heights, which has been under illegal Israeli occupation since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 (a war, it should be remembered, that was started by Israel). Nine council members (permanent and elected) voted for the resolution, with four abstentions. One member was absent. The United States was the only member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

In addition to the Golan Heights Israel remained in illegal occupation of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula from 1967 until 1979, when the territory was returned to Egypt under the terms of the Camp David Accords. Israel also remained in illegal occupation of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and the West Bank for many years, and still makes periodic illegal military incursions into both territories. It has cut off the Gaza Strip’s contacts with the outside world, shattered the Strip’s economy by banning the export of its products, cut off electricity supplies and prevented Gaza’s inhabitants from working in Israel.

The Zionist state has also built a massive barrier around the West Bank, turning it into a besieged ghetto, in blatant violation of a July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague directing Israel to immediately cease construction of the wall and dismantle the sections that had already been built by then. Ignoring the ICJ ruling and widespread international condemnation of the wall, Israel has continued to press ahead with its construction. The wall, which now almost completely encircles the West Bank, has divided the Palestinian territory into a series of ghettoes.

Israel has also built dozens of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, ignoring repeated calls by the international community to dismantle the settlements. In violation of the West Bank’s rights as a lower riparian territory, Israel has also illegally diverted water flows from rivers and underground water channels from the West Bank to Israeli territory, causing serious damage to the West Bank’s agriculture and leaving many of its farmers virtually destitute.

All this has been done without a squeak of protest from the United States. Nor has the US ever put any pressure on Israel to mend its ways and stop its barbaric actions against the Palestinian people. On the contrary, the US continues to be Israel’s staunchest ally and gives it over $ 4 billion a year in economic and military aid – most of it in the form of grants that do not have to be re-paid. Since 1980, the US has given Israel a total of more than $ 100 billion in economic and military aid.

On April 2, 1982, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and its refusal to abide by Geneva Convention protocols of civilised nations. The United States was the only Council member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

On April 20, 1982, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning an Israeli soldier who shot 11 Muslim worshippers on the Temple Mount of the Harm-al-Sharif near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem (occupied Al-Quds). The United States was the only Council member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it. In doing so, what the US was, in effect, saying was that it was ‘okay’ for Israeli soldiers to shoot Muslim worshippers.

And, yet, many US commentators continue to ask: “Why do they (the Muslims) hate us?” Such commentators should know that it is not the American people that Muslims hate but the foreign policy of successive US governments.

On June 18, 1982, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution that urged sanctions against Israel if it did not withdraw from its invasion of Lebanon. The United States was the only Council member that voted against the resolution, thereby vetoing it.

During the course of Israel’s unprovoked invasion of Lebanon, the Zionist state laid siege to Beirut and subjected the city to a massive artillery bombardment for eight long months, reducing much of the city to rubble. Israel eventually withdrew from Northern Lebanon, but continued to illegally occupy Southern Lebanon for nearly twenty long years.

Moreover, the Israeli forces, which were led by then-Israeli Defence Minister General Aerial Sharon (later prime minister of Israel) stood by and did nothing while Israeli-backed Lebanese Christian Falangist militias massacred over 800 Muslim Lebanese civilians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. The massacre earned Sharon the sobriquet of “the Butcher of Sabra and Shatilla.”

In the late-1990s, when Sharon was prime minister, he ordered Israeli army builldozers to demolish the West Bank Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, leaving scores of Palestinian refugees, including women and children, buried alive under the rubble. That horrific action earned Sharon the additional epithet of “the Butcher of Jenin.”

In the summer of 2006, Israel again invaded Lebanon and subjected it to a massive aerial and artillery bombardment, killing over 1,000 Lebanese civilians in the process, destroying much of the country’s infrastructure, and sending several hundred thousand Lebanese civilians fleeing out of the country to take refuge in neighbouring Syria.

The list of US vetoes of Security Council resolutions critical of Israel goes on and on...